Happy One Month!

Yesterday was officially my one month here in Australia.  It's crazy to think that I've been gone for so long but at the same time it still feels like it was yesterday that I arrived.  I absolutely love it here and in some ways its like I never want to leave.  As it becomes one month since I've been here, it only reminds me that I only have 5 more months left until I'm back in America and back to UVa.  Looking back reflectively on my time here, I feel that I've already learned so much.  Just this week I was talking to a friend of mine that I met at the hostel and I was saying how Australia really makes me feel comfortable and so at peace.  I thought for a moment about why I felt so myself even within days of arriving.  I soon realized that this is the first time in my life that I have gone off and done something completely on my own.  When I moved when I was younger and got a fresh start, my family was always alongside of me.  When I went off to college, Sally was there as well.  I am so grateful that all those experiences were shared with someone I love, but at the same time, I never went anywhere where no one had any idea of who I was.  They say when you go off to college you really find who you are because you are finally on your own.  For me, I still felt like everyone had the same expectations of me and so I stuck with what I knew my whole life.  But now, I am completely on my own and it has been really awesome for me to challenge what I've been told my whole life and put it into practice.  I have had to look for churches on my own.  At UVa I went to the church Sally went to because I had a ride there; I went to the same Christian group and it was easier knowing that I would know someone there.  But here, I have had to be really intentional about finding a church knowing that no one is going to do it for me.  It's been a great experience just learning what things I put my time into and what things I truly enjoy for myself. 
     This past Monday classes officially started and my summer or I guess winter break here is finally over.  All my classes seem pretty interesting and I'm really looking forward to this more relaxed style of class.  Each class is only once a week for two hours and then a discussion which is often lead by the professor.  Also, most classes only have one test if that and it is only worth about 10-20% of your grade.  I'm taking almost all intro level classes and we have 12 page papers we have to write that are worth 50%.  What happened to a chill intro level class?  The class I'm most nervous about is International Relations.  The professor said that he assumes we all have a basic level of history knowledge.  Anyone who knows me knows that history is clearly not one of my strengths.  In fact, I relate my knowledge to that of a kindergartner; and yes, I do mean that literally.  I might be calling some of you up to tell me who someone is or what happened in which wars just to make sure that I'm not an idiot when writing a paper or something.  Normally I love discussion sessions because talking has never been a problem for me and it's an easy A for about 20% of my grade.  I've never understood how people just don't speak up and get that easy A.  Now I am starting to realize why some people never talk during them.  I'm so freaking nervous to say anything in this International Relations class knowing that I'll probably mess something up and sound stupid and ignorant.  My other classes seem really awesome though and very intriguing. 

    Other than that, life has been exceptionally good.  With 29 people in my house, it feels like I'm back in first-year dorms or something and its awesome because there is always someone doing something.  I'm learning how to balance my own personal time with social time.  The people in my house are awesome and I'm having some awesome experiences.  Even tonight we saw Inception on the world's largest IMAX screen.  Definitely see the movie- IT'S AWESOME!!!!!  The weather this week has been fantastic, about 62 everyday- yes it is the dead of winter, so I have been going to the beach a lot to play volleyball or toss a frisbee.  There is also this walk that connects 5 beaches and is 4.5 miles long so I walked that the other day and it was absolutely beautiful.  We walked it around sunset and the colors in the sky were the most amazing thing I've ever seen.  So even after one month, I can still say that life is good and I'm still gaining new experiences and making new friends.  Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather back home!  Check out all my pictures on facebook or if you don't have facebook, you can look at them at them here on my Australia Album.